Old Town Class C Sail Pictures / Dimensions?

Does anyone have pictures of the Old Town aluminum Class C setup? Dimensions? I seem to recall the aluminum masts supplied by Old Town where oval similar to the Dwyer DM-275.

Was the Wahoo available with a Class C sail? I haven’t seen or heard of one. The Wahoo with a lateen rig has a round mast/step, likely 2 1/4" diameter (I haven't measured it).

I have a ‘new old stock’ Class C sail from Old Town, plus what I strongly suspect is a matching aluminum boom. Two (2) inch round mast stock and fittings are available from Dwyer (DM-20). Thinking about effort in setting up the Wahoo for being interchangeable between Class C and lateen.

The Class C rules on page 19 of the document at https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.americanc...on-documents/aca_sailing_rules_racing_rev.pdf are fairly general with very few specific dimensions. I don't recall ever seeing a Wahoo that was rigged with a Class C sail. The position of the Wahoo dagger boards can't easily be changed to accommodate another sail rig with a different center of effort. The oval mast is also likely to be an issue as you have noticed. I may be able to dig out some more pictures of the Class C rig but you already have the best one. Is there something specific that you are looking for in a different picture? The Class C rig is more vertical than a similarly sized lateen which makes it very tender to sail in any significant wind. Have fun and let us know how it works out.

Thanks Benson,
I'm looking for details on on how the boom attachment was done, mast head, etc. Basic details on how to duplicate. The center of effort is a good point. I may make up a sketch to see how much it changes. Not sure I'll push it through to completion. It's a marginal project in terms of how much enjoyment it will yield. I do have a class C sail on an 18' guide. So it's not really even a 'want' item. More of a just because I have sail.

I won't be able to confirm the fitting for a few weeks. But as I recall it was spinnaker style end. And maybe that is what it is, spinnaker pole for a Whitecap and class C sail boom would be similar. It was thrown out of the shop in one of the purges. Will get length, details of the boom and sail posted in a few weeks.

This all may become more clear once you start looking at the fittings as Todd mentioned. I have scanned and enlarged several transparencies of the Class C rig on both the Molitor and an experiment with a catamaran made out of two canoes as shown below. None of these have enough resolution to show the gooseneck in much detail. Let us know what you find.

Attached Files:

Normally for that style of gooseneck there would be a short section a few inches above the gooseneck's normal height where the flanges on either side of the mast track would have been cut away. This gives you a spot to feed the sail's boltrope into the mast track as you raise the sail. Then the gooseneck is fed into the track and drops down below the cut-out to proper boom height. The pin through the big shackle on top of the gooseneck secures the sail's tack grommet and a downhaul of some sort attaches to the hole on the lower part of the gooseneck.

Downhauls can be fixed, with little more than a rope attached through the hole and cleated off on the lower mast, or they can be adjustable, even sometimes with multi-part tackles and a quick release/adjust cleat for adjustment on the fly as needed. They can also be set up to float with mainsheet tension. In that case, a mainsheet block would dangle on a shackle from the hole in the gooseneck, just aft of the mast. The sheet in that case is usually routed from the stern, up to the aft part of the boom, forward along the boom to the gooseneck block, and finally down to a fixed block on the hull below. Sheeting the sail in hard (as you would do for upwind work) would pull the boom and gooseneck downward, tightening the luff, flattening the sail and moving draft forward for better upwind performance. Easing the sheet tension to sail a course farther off the wind would reduce downhaul tension on the boom a bit and allow for a fuller sail. I don't know what sort of fixed or floating downhaul Old Town had rigged on their Class C rigs.

Also know that your gooseneck is designed for a sail with almost no tack setback (the distance between the aft side of the mast and the sail's tack grommet when the sail's boltrope is in the sail track). It is important that when rigged, the grommet is in the proper spot in relation to the gooseneck and is not distorting the sail's corner. If the sail and boom/gooseneck were made for each other, then it shouldn't be a problem. If they were not, then it can be. Likewise, most oval masts will use a small cast aluminum cap at the top with either a sheave for the halyard or a hole for a shackle to hang a halyard block up there. Again, you want that assembly to line up well with the peak grommet or headboard grommet on the top of the sail. It's pretty straight-forward. If the sail in that area is creased, wrinkled or seems to be being pulled funny from the halyard, something isn't lined up properly.